Windows XP Pro....system idle process issue?

[SASless]

Running XP Pro...for some inexplicable reason...machine is running very slowly...you can make a sandwich waiting on IE to open or new site to appear...and the Hard Drive appears to get into an endless loop. When the machine goes on one of these wobbly deals...calling up the Task Manager either does not work or takes donkey's to appear.

When Task Manager appears, finally, the only unusual thing showing is in processes....the system idle process is running at about 94-98%....and like that pink bunny...keeps going...and going ....and going.

Doing a reset works until at some point....away goes the problem again.

No malware found, no spyware found, virus checks are clean....

Any ideas???

[stickyb]

If you click on the column that lists the process cpu % it will be sorted in descending numerical order, so you can see what is using the most. As % add up to 100, system idle process consumes what nobody else wants, so don't worry about it. It runs as the lowest of the low, so don't worry about it. Whatever your problem is, it is not with the system idle process. Thats just telling you that nothing else is wanting cpu time.

[henry crun]

I had exactly the same problem about a year ago.
Eventually I did a C format by reloading XP, dispensed with NAV in favour of AVG, and no more problems.

[Coconutty]

Could it be anything to do with the "Find Fast" facility - or "Indexing Service" as its known in XP ?

Right click your C: Drive in My Computer and then click "Properties"

At the bottom of the window is a check box :
"Allow Indexing Service to Index this disc for fast file searching"

I have known this to slow things down - especially on larger drives - try unchecking it and see if things improve.

http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d129/coconut11/coconut.jpg
Coconutty

[Tone]

Mine behaves in a similar fashion from time to time. I am running ZA antivirus and it brings the system to a halt when its running a virus check.